Episode 127 | Scaling Smart: How a VA Can Accelerate Success - Jana Franklin

In this episode of Uncopyable Women in Business, I chat with Jana Franklin, founder and CEO of CEO Concierge, a virtual assistant company that helps CEOs and entrepreneurs reclaim their time. Jana is also a Jimmy John’s franchise owner and past president of the St. Louis Entrepreneurs’ Organization. We discuss her journey, the power of virtual assistants, and how delegation fuels business growth. We discuss:

• How Jana transitioned from running franchises to launching CEO Concierge
• Why hiring a VA can be a game-changer for entrepreneurs
• How CEO Concierge matches clients with the right assistant
• The benefits of hiring VAs from the Philippines
• The importance of delegation and staying in your lane

About Jana:

Jana Franklin is a dynamic entrepreneur with a proven track record of growing successful businesses. From owning Fantastic Sam’s and Jimmy John’s franchises to co-founding CEO Concierge, she excels at building and scaling ventures. CEO Concierge, launched in 2023, connects executives with top-tier virtual assistants, streamlining operations and boosting productivity.

As the Past President of Entrepreneurs Organization St. Louis, Jana is a passionate advocate for business owners, balancing leadership with her roles as a mother, wife, and community supporter. Her journey is a testament to resilience, innovation, and a relentless drive for success.

Contact Jana:

LinkedIn

CEO Concierge

Want to be more successful, make more sales and grow your business? If so, you'll love this podcast. In this show, I (Kay Miller, aka "Muffler Mama,") interview superstar women from all industries. Their experience and advice will give you specific tools you can use to enjoy Uncopyable success. I earned the nickname “Muffler Mama" when sold more automotive mufflers than anyone in the world, and I've been a successful entrepreneur for over 30 years. During that time, I (along with my husband, Steve) have generated 8 figures in revenue for our business.  Besides hosting this podcast, I'm an author, speaker, coach, consultant and most importantly....Kelly's mom.

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Transcript

00:01

Welcome to Uncopyable Women In Business I'm your host Kay Miller also known as Muffler Mama stay tuned as I along with my guests give you Marketing sales and personal branding strategies that will give you an uncopyable advantage today I'm chatting with Jana Franklin and Jan is the founder and CEO of CEO concierge a virtual assistant company designed to match exceptional outsourced executive assistant tailored specifically for CEOs she's also the owner of several Jimmy John's franchises

00:40

and the past president of the St Louis chapter of entrepreneurs organization known as EO Jana welcome to the podcast thank you I'm excited to talk to you and learn about you because you have quite the interesting uh mix of things that you have done and are doing and your latest Endeavor is CEO concierge which is as I understand it virtual assistance for CEO um entrepreneurs is that correct yeah yeah and that's a great concept Vaas virtual assistants make more and more sense especially when you don't you

01:21

don't want to pay for a full-time assistant or you don't maybe need fulltime so we'll get a little bit more into how this happened because we're going to talk about the fact that you are a franchise owner for Jimmy johnsa before Co when Co hit we had we were considered an essential business and but we were losing our staff we had a couple hours we were losing a lot of our clientele especially our businesses around us that we were doing tons of catering went to home work from home so

01:53

we cut staff and so I really needed to be in my stores and I really needed to figure out how I could be in my stores doing what I do well which is management and being present for team and so forth and not doing the things a I don't like B that take me forever to figure out and C just was like a Time Su and I went after went to a virtual assistant in the Philippines and really found a great virtual assistant that complimented my skill set did the things that I'm not good that very patient because I am not

02:32

a patient person and I have a huge sense of urgency so I really found someone that complimented my skills and personality and then did another one and really saw that wow all of a sudden I actually had some work life balance I actually was able to grow my business and be where I needed to be to do that because I had people running the items a wasn't good and be that they were doing it much better and more efficiently and so in talking to a group of female entrepreneurs who have also had um a

03:12

couple of them had virtual assistance as well I said we really need to launch a company and go after People Like Us entrepreneurs and CEOs like us who wear multiple hats and have to do it all especially females because a lot of us are running our households and our work lives and so I feel like there's a lot more added pressure I think we have a a bigger sense of control issues I think that we have we like to be we don't like to be overwhelmed but we're overwhelmed and so we really so I had this

03:52

conversation with this group of women and they were like yeah we need to do it and so we sat down in March of 23 and did a strategy session for a couple days and then they went on their way and they're like hey Danon we helped you now go launch the company and so launch the company they're great advisors for me I run things by them if and then if I think do this the right move is this the right move and really just started going after people I knew that were in the same entrepreneurship ownership CEO

04:28

seats and we have built our business based on referrals and what we do is we almost like Head Hunters so who do you go after so yeah so we go after entrepreneurs and so we have I'll have a a discovery call with a client and we just talk and I'm just like sharing I'm just experience sharing with them like what I've done with a VA what we do what how we can find the perfect VA for them we use personality profiling I saw in your book you talk about 16 personalities we use 16 personalities we

05:06

use some other skill some other personalities with the client and then also say okay this client's personality is this what is the skill set they need and then we go out and we head hunt for that perfect VA that's going to compliment them and be in very good skill set and personality culture fit and then we do an extensive training and with the client and with the V and so that's how we have gone after it and basically taking what I did with my Jimmy John company and just tribe by air and and instituted a

05:42

lot of that in our company and still do and it's just been it's been great I've met so many interesting people interest interesting Bas interesting entrepreneurs and CEO seite it's just I'm always amazed when I talk to people that have businesses or a concept and idea because I'm always like you did it you went after what you thought about that no one did and it's just I'm always amazed at the creativity and The Innovation that these people have but that's where they sit right

06:22

that's their that's where they uh prosper and they don't Prosper doing their books or they don't Prosper managing people are being detailed and that's where a virtual assistant can really come in efficiently and I think the other thing is a lot of people don't comprehend or realize that it's really cost beneficial that's what it was for me it C it became very cost beneficial for me during Co and then I was like why would I ever get rid of this and so that's how we

06:57

came uh some of the points that you mentioned I really like the virtual assistant and you're wearing all those hats as a business owner CEO and of course the phrase that comes to mind is only do what only you can do and like you said if you're doing all that peripheral work of paperwork accounting whatever even reaching out marketing yeah that's not going to bring you income I think that is huge I know that you do have two kids two boys so you have a lot to balance and you want to spend as much time with them as you can

07:32

obviously you said you had a VA in the Philippines are most of your Vaas in the Philippines now or is it a mix or that work they they yeah they're all in the Philippines I became a Philippines entity in May of 24 so it allows me to because I'm very I want to grow them as well professionally and personally 80% of my virtual assistants are women and who have young children so it works well for them as well but I became a Philippines entity in May of 24 and it allows me to give them great benefits as

08:07

a company and that is really key uh we don't hire anyone that doesn't have the virtual experience virtual assistant experience and that's also key um and I think it really goes into it goes into uh retention I don't have the best retention in the Jimmy Johns because of the of because the Beast of it is what it is and so for me when I started this company that was one of the biggest things for me was how can I retain great people and and also make them feel like they're a team I have a VA in the

08:43

Philippines and she's great her name's relle so relle you're gonna see this I I'm very happy with Michelle but here was the issue it was really hard to find her and I happened to get a referral from someone else and so that is huge if you're listen sitting as a CEO business owner or solo entrepreneur whoever you need to know that the vas have been vetted so to speak and that's what you're doing that is huge right yeah it's a big process for us I have a my recruitment team is my biggest team I do

09:19

all the final interviews so 80% don't even make it it's 80 8080 80% don't make it to the first interviews 80% don't make it past the first interviews % don't make it this past second interviews and if they get to me they're usually making it but I'm only interviewing three to four Bas per client role and I'm coming at it from the standpoint of the client like I'm asking those questions like how are you gonna handle me I like to use the word whirling dervish because topping up

09:53

everywhere and I like today my priority is this tomorrow my priority is this oh guess what at 6:00 a.m. my priority changed for tomorrow so like how are you going to handle that constant of a of an entrepreneur business owner cweet person who's always putting out fires and so I really try to get into their mindset when I'm doing the final interviews and about 50% of our clients do interviews after us the others don't they're like hey you know what you're doing we trust you and it's not a matter of trust but

10:23

they want to make sure that the personality is fit and it's been the process is worked very well for us we don't have a whole lot of issues and it's really interesting because at first with the personality profiling I didn't really pick certain profiles per se and there now after going through it for a good six months but with the beginning I was like there is that profile we will never hire because they don't have detail and most of the entrepreneurs C Suite business owners don't have detail as far as I can

11:00

tell from at least our clients and so the Bas have to have detail they have to be able to be detail oriented and so that so it really the process has really worked for us and you mentioned trial and error which applies to so many things marketing and hiring Vaas you said trial and error sometimes you had I'm sure at the beginning like you said you picked somebody that wasn't what you were looking for wasn't really a fit I do want to clarify so you are CEO concierge and so what's your definition

11:32

of a CEO if someone's listening and they're a solo entrepreneur yeah so for us it's seite typically Executives that are firing on a lot of cylinders small business owners entrepreneurs it that's who is our sweet spot for us those because that's what the hats I wear so it's very easy for me to uh collaborate and understand where they're coming from and I think that's really important think that if we think about Innovation that's where I can help because I'm thinking of something that I

12:18

maybe have done that might help them the clients or vice versa I've learned a lot from some of our clients too you talk about leg gen and sales and that's one of the areas that I'm not at least with Jimmy John's let's be business to consumer that is not a sales-driven process that is something I definitely have learned in this role so it there are some things I've learned from my clients and vice versa that has really made a difference and I just think that staying in my Lane is very

12:53

important for me and I've watched I've been approached to do things that may another Outsourcing company can do and I'll sit there and go yeah we can do it and then as I start to think about it I'm like nope we can't do that because we're just going to start muddying the waters and that is not where I like to sit I think a lot of people who are really successful say one of the biggest things that they do is say no right they're and you especially I know you're involved in a lot of things I want to

13:24

get to your entrepreneurial organization yeah but yeah saying know and knowing I love that stay in your lane right it's hard to do cuz oh I could do that but what are you not doing because you're spending time on that and you were referred to me by Tracy Marlo and I wanted to mention that she's episode 117 and you guys are a lot alike I think in many ways she quit her corporate job to start her own Ad Agency because she had a baby a family and and she didn't want to work those crazy hours but like

14:02

you I asked her where do you get your clients and like you she has a big network of entrepreneurs so she did say I just approached the people I know and she also my market which of course we call our moose the main Market we go after for her is women empowerment as you said I'm guessing most vas in the Philippines are women uh mine also has children so um so it's a good fit for them and you know it's inexpensive and I don't know if you want to share how you charge for that um or not if you want

14:38

people to contact you to find out no I mean I think people I mean everyone's minimum wage is different in the United States by state right and so I think it's different so we also do part-time which I think allows for client and I always say to our clients if they've never had a virtual assistant start part time like ease into it you don't need to go fulltime just to go full because there's always a learning curve whether you like it or not and I say it's no different than the person sitting in the

15:10

Next Room for you that's working for you there's still going to be a learning curve so we do parttime minimum hours is 20 hours a week which is only four hours a day and that goes pretty fast that's $12 an hour so my minimum wage in Missouri is 1375 in Illinois which I have Jimmy Johns in Illinois as well it's 15 an hour so for me $122 an hour is is a nice sweet spot because the other thing that I absolutely love about the Filipinos and also there's some other countries that do the same thing

15:40

they're Highly Educated they're highly the work ethic is their bucket list is they want to work for United States clients they want to grow they I I can't tell you how many people I talk to that do their own training they go they try and get certifications they're trying to do that and it's just it's refreshing at my bookkeeper a CPA most of my employees have their bachelor's degrees and so you were getting a high quality person for that rate full times $1,900 a month for

16:15

40 hours a week we're and the other thing is we really I the other thing is I don't like having to Chase auto renews as a person as a business owner because guess what I forgot to cancel it 60 days ago and now M renewed for another year all right I'm been there too yeah so we just s a 30 days notification opt out like I just think that no that we don't have time to be chasing it and I don't want to be Shady I'm very transparent I'll get on the phone with my clients if

16:47

there's an issue and I try to be proactive just like my VA if I see a problem popping up I'm going to call the client go hey are you seeing this too and maybe they aren't but at least we're having a conversation so for us it's it we try what's that saying keep it simple stupid it's we try and keep it simple because no one wants to deal with chasing people right and I wanted to make the point that of course probably most people listening will know but the cost of living in the Philippines is so low

17:22

yes we think $12 an hour is not much but it it's a good wage it is a good wage and we do benefit that's why we became a Philippines entity so they get a 10% differential graveyard pay with us they get rice or rice allowance they get a raise every six months they get internet allowance they get so many PTO days and then those grow the longer they're with us I've visited with my team we had a party in Manila in September and so the yes when I was there their nails were awesome all my women's nails were

17:57

awesome I was like guys how much is that like I was trying to get some cost comparison they're like my nails cost $12 and it's what would cost probably $100 for us to go to that go to a salon haircuts were a dollar so yeah so you have to put it in perspective and I think sometimes people think oh you're not paying them enough but in perspective it's their cost it's like you said it's their cost of living I was thinking your reputation has got to be just huge to you the importance of that so yeah vetting your

18:30

people again that's the biggest problem I see with getting VA is where do you go to find them somebody like everywhere yeah and you just don't know what you're getting I actually worked with another one another VA before and did not have a good experience so it really pays to use CEO concierge for finding the right VA I think that's a great uh business model so let's talk about as I said with Tracy she has connections and you're one of her connections and so how do you fund

19:04

your clients I know you're part of the and you are actually the past president of the entrepreneurs organization of St Louis so I'm sure that's part of your network so how did you move into this it is part of our network but EO has a EO for sure has a strict no solicitation policy so it's more like just having conversations with members and for example my chapter has a chapter chat and someone might put a question out there hey does anyone I'm an executive assistant and then I pounce

19:40

that's how I can pounce on it and be like hey I can talk to you and that's how it started the ball kind of start rolling and it and and so then it just they referred someone else and then someone else got refered and then someone else got it's just been that way and I try to be accessible when they need me to be accessible I think that's the key like I use a calendar link but if if someone's s introducing me in an in a email I'm like hey I'm responding as fast as I can

20:14

and I'm trying to connect with them and I will try and move my calendar around to meet them that's the other thing to me is really meeting the person where they need us to be um if you think of like a hotel concierge they're do doing everything in their power to bend overs and that's what I'm trying to do um because I also think as a society and as corporations and so for I think a lot of personal touch has gone away it it has and we're also used to instant gratification and you can see me

20:50

taking some notes here so I just interviewed a woman named Dr Kate D and she is an MD I used to be radiologist and then she started two medy spas estheticians and now she owns two and gives herself S phone out and she says if I can't answer I call right back because people just they want to know they want to connect now so yeah I think the days of saying even I'm sorry check your email once or twice a day doesn't always work if you just totally want to be there for your customers and your

21:25

prospects and we launched a program called project inbox zero because a lot of the virtual assistants are managing their client calendars and inboxes and basically it is saying if a client uh we we Lo we label them like category a b CD and so a is you're whatsapping your client or you're slacking your client or whatever you're communicating like hey you have an a email that needs to have an answer in an hour from you right or here's the B emails that can be answered and then C D

22:02

so they're throwing the wild the spam into a spam folder and so forth the other the nice thing is too is then the VA is also sending their client at the end of the day an in report of what they so there's days that I don't talk to my vas and I get an in day report and I'm like oh my gosh they got a lot done today and I can take that off my list I think that's really important aspect of it because communic like you said communication's key and thanks to technology this this

22:34

is possible where it wasn't a few years ago and then Co came along Zoom exploded WhatsApp we were talking about you've been to Guatemala and I've been to Guatemala I was out in the middle of the Jungle and I called my family it was like I was calling from across town what'sapp is great for and all the different Technologies for VAs so let's see we've got about five more minutes and I'm just curious so we've got my moose is Al like you women entrepreneurs not necessarily CEOs I see a lot of

23:11

women starting businesses and they have a passion for something but they don't know all of these various things so they might not be your Market they might not be a fit for you I do want to mention I will put all your links in the show notes so whoever wants to reach out to you yeah for sure you'd be surprised who our clients are I had a client the other day reach out she's a oneperson shop and but she's to the point where she's I can't do it I can't wear all the hats

23:39

and so but goes back to the cost Effectiveness right okay that's good to know so really someone a solo entrepreneur if they want to hire a VA for four hours a day can still do that and they'll probably I mean we have several vas that are whatsapping or slacking their client an hour before they need to be walking out the door saying you have to be walking out the door in 30 minutes to meet your one that's that would be good I should have had that this morning I told you I went to the to a doctor in Seattle and

24:10

we live south of Seattle and oh my gosh I left way too late which I literally allowed an hour and a half I don't want to vent but I should tell relle you got to get me out of the house girl yeah yeah but that's what happened my sister is really bad at that so I can do one more thing I can do one more thing and then she's late which for me it's okay I'm still going to be late but it's not because I was doing one more thing that's right life happens right and you have kids and you are such a go-getter

24:42

thank you with and knowing Tracy really recommended you and I was just I thought okay I definitely want her as a guest and you listening I am looking for really great guests that can Inspire TR and I yeah Tracy and I can give list definitely not in the same markets which is really nice I've learned a lot from her when it comes to marketing and your book The anchors and triggers in your book really hit home to me I actually referred to it earlier today in a conversation I was talking to someone

25:14

about for Branding which is not the world I live in either and so it's I think it's really I think the other thing is 70% of our clients are women and I think it's because well I hope that's what it's the camaraderie and the collaboration and just just the symbiotic relationship of sharing some grief together or cheer right I think we're definitely more emotional in our decisions and so the fit conversation the culture conversation the wearing thousand hats really plays into it

25:54

and you can relate right and some people I I had one g on the podcast who really did not she said I am not going to accept that there's a difference between being a man and a woman when you're starting a a company she's the only one who said that and my belief is women and men are different not that one can be more successful than the other but we are more relational I think we're wired to wear more hats because we've always had the family responsibility and all of that stuff the other thing I like about

26:28

Tracy and you and that's my purpose also is to lift women up and to help women and I'm older than you but when I started my career I just felt like women were not supportive of each other the opposite we can if we could rise the rising type liol boats or ships or whatever so I I like that that you are also passionate about that so I know from my family it comes from my mother and my grandmothers they were both my grandmother I'm from Nebraska so very conservative small state and both of my

27:01

grandmothers in the 50s were entrepreneurs that's interesting but and one last thing I'm gonna say and then I want you to to give a couple closing thoughts but I have not met anyone or interviewed anyone on this podcast who doesn't have an absolutely solid work ethic you just can't you've got to have that drive and and I so I was going to ask you where does that come from and so it's interesting that you say from your grandmothers but also in any business or sales or any part of business there're

27:35

ups and downs just close us out with a few thoughts that will help The Listener embolden them to be a little bit more like Jan my husband would disagree with that but okay I think that I really try I'm a family of women my dad had all girls right so it was emboldened into us that girls can do anything boys can do first of all growing up in Nebraska and then secondly I'm one of those people that I'm am going to regret not trying I'm NE ever going to regret trying and failing failure to me is I

28:16

got to try it and if I fail there's been many times I have failed and I say to new business owners and entrepreneurs and everyone look from I expensive mistakes okay because I've done it so I think that if you have an idea find some people that you can bounce that idea off of and really help lift you up and give you some pros and give you some cons and push back on it but don't take it personally and defensively but I think like I said I have to try and I've tried a couple other events Endeavors that

28:51

have failed but I still keep trying because I regret not trying versus the other way and that's what I'm trying to still in my two boys um and just that is the biggest thing and then don't be afraid to ask for help I think that's key because we cannot do it we like physically emotionally mentally you will collapse you will come down and the to me that is that's worse right I broke my leg uh in 23 in the fall of 23 and it completely shut me down cuz I couldn't walk and it was really good for me

29:35

because it gave me a bigger Insight onto what I can handle and what I can't and that's where you talked about saying no you've got to be able to say no and I that was as the past president of EO St Louis obviously I had problems saying no so I definitely can say no now so those are like my tidbits that I try and live by and go with and I also have I don't hesitate asking someone else if they are stronger like you in sales or Tracy in marketing I have no problems calling Tracy and asking her for some insight if

30:14

I'm struggling in that area I think that's where that's important as women that we are lifting each other up and that that we know we have people we can call and when it's our turn to be Mentor mentors and help other women then we can pay it forward so I appreciate your honesty I love the part that you admit your failures because yes if you don't try and if you don't fail you're not going to succeed no one succeeds just out of the box right can say no one there is probably somebody but for the

30:45

most part you just got to hey have that grit that tenacity and the attitude that you have so I really appreciate your time it's been a fascinating conversation that flew by and you listen we will have links in the show notes so if you are in the market for a VA that can really take some things off your hands that aren't your most productiv that don't make sense for you to do so anyway I really appreciate you being on the podcast thank you so much no problem thank you so much thanks for listening to this

31:23

episode see you next time and always remember to be un uncopyable